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CONTACT! An Evening with Esa-Pekka Salonen

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"Why can't more music be like this?" —FeastofMusic.com

Dynamic and always innovative, composer/conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen opens this series of engaging music from today’s most energetic composers performed by New York Philharmonic musicians in starring roles. Enjoy it in the relaxed atmosphere of SubCulture.

Works by SALONEN:knock, breathe, shine for Solo CelloMemoria for Wind QuintetYTA III for Solo CelloHomunculus for String QuartetSecond Meeting for Oboe and Piano

Artist Bios

(Click the names below to expand info.)

Esa-Pekka Salonen, host

A lauded composer and world renowned conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen has a restless innovation that marks him as one of the most important artists in classical music. Mr. Salonen is currently the Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra and Conductor Laureate for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he was Music Director from 1992 until 2009.

Trained in the austere world of European modernism and enjoying a close relationship with the sunny city of Los Angeles, Mr. Salonen composes works that move freely between contemporary idioms, combining intricacy and technical virtuosity with playful rhythmic and melodic innovations. He has received three major retrospectives: at Festival Présences Paris in 2011; at the Stockholm International Composer Festival in 2004; and at Musica Nova, Helsinki, in 2003. In 2007 Mr. Salonen conducted the New York Philharmonic in the world premiere of his Piano Concerto, dedicated to and performed by Yefim Bronfman. This week he leads Leila Josefowicz and the Philharmonic in the New York concert premiere of his Violin Concerto, which won the 2012 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. His program also includes Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony; the final performance is tomorrow evening. With tonight’s event Mr. Salonen makes his 92nd Street Y debut.

September 2013 marked the 30th anniversary of Mr. Salonen’s debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra. He bookends his 2013-14 season with the Philharmonia in concerts throughout Europe, including the Grafenegg, Berlin and Lucerne festivals, and ending in June with engagements at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. Two weeks ago, Mr. Salonen celebrated the 10th anniversary of Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles with several concerts, including the world premiere of Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels. In April Mr. Salonen will lead the Chicago Symphony, and in May he will return to La Scala in Milan to conduct Patrice Chéreau’s critically acclaimed production of Elektra.

Mr. Salonen’s extensive recording career includes a CD of his orchestral works performed by the Finnish Radio Symphony, which he also conducted, as well as a disc of his Piano Concerto and his works Helix and Dichotomie. 2012 saw the release of the first-ever recording of Shostakovich’s previously undiscovered opera prologue Orango with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the release of Out of Nowhere, a collection of his Violin Concerto and Nyx, featuring Ms. Josefowicz and the Finnish Radio Symphony. Among his recordings with the Philharmonia are Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Mahler’s Sixth and Ninth symphonies, all on the Signum label. Mr. Salonen’s website is esapekkasalonen.com

Philharmonic violinist Hae-Young Ham performed as soloist with the Orchestra including in 1980 with Zubin Mehta (as a winner of the Philharmonic’s Young Artists Competition) and in 1991 with Erich Leinsdorf. Other solo appearances include the New Jersey, Ann Arbor and Korea’s KBS symphony orchestras, and the Bergen, Seoul and Louisiana philharmonic orchestras. Ms. Ham performs with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles, including in Europe, Korea and the United States, and has participated in a chamber music residency in Hot Springs, Virginia, and in Germany’s Bahnhof Rolandseck Festival. Ms. Ham has won top prizes in several national competitions in her native Korea as well as in the United States. At age 15 she began studies in The Juilliard School’s precollege division, and later earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard.

Philharmonic violinist Sharon Yamada performs chamber music regularly with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles and has appeared with the New Jersey Chamber Music Society and at the Grand Teton, Aspen, Norfolk and Chigiana (Siena, Italy) music festivals. She was assistant concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and has appeared in concert with Orchestra New England and the Wallingford Symphony. She is a former member of the Hofstra String Quartet, which was in residence at Hofstra University. As an undergraduate at Yale University she appeared as soloist and concertmaster with the Yale Symphony, and she later received her master of music degree from the Yale School of Music. The Los Angeles native attended the Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences.

Violist Dawn Hannay has been a member of the Philharmonic since 1979. Previously, she was principal violist with the Omaha Symphony and the Nebraska Sinfonia; a member of the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia and the Opera Company of Philadelphia; served as artist-in-residence at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia; and was a member of Ensemble I, specializing in works for unusual instrumentation. Ms. Hannay often appears with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles and spends summers at the Grand Teton Music Festival, where she is a founding member of the string quartet Wind River 4. In March 2001, she was a featured soloist and guest principal viola with the London Chamber Players on a tour of South Africa.

Philharmonic cellist Nathan Vickery has appeared as a soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and at festivals including the Marlboro Chamber Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute and the Chamber Music Workshop at the Perlman Music Festival, as well as throughout Europe with Curtis on Tour. He has performed chamber music with Joshua Bell, Pamela Frank, Miriam Fried, Jonathan Biss and Eighth Blackbird. Mr. Vickery has appeared on NPR’s From the Top and WFMT in Chicago. He has won numerous competitions, including the Second International David Popper Cello Competition (Hungary) and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s Maurer Young Musicians Contest. A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, he has served on the faculty of the Indiana University Summer String Academy.

New York Philharmonic cellist Patrick Jee, who previously served as assistant principal cello of Lyric Opera of Chicago, has appeared at New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Halls, Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Paris’s Salle Gaveau and the Seoul Arts Center, and on CNN’s “American Morning.” Solo engagements have included the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, National Orchestra of Toulouse and Orchestre National d’Île de France, and he has appeared at the Aspen, Banff, Caramoor, Casals and La Jolla festivals. A Juilliard graduate and winner of the Grand Prize at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition, Mr. Jee is a member of the New Piano Trio and a founding member of Ensemble Ditto, and has performed with Sejong Soloists. He can be heard on the Albany, Urtext and HM record labels.

Sumire Kudo joined the Philharmonic in 2006. Previously, she taught at Indiana University–South Bend and was in the Avalon String Quartet. Born in Tokyo, she came to the United States in 2000, after establishing herself in her native country through solo performances and recordings. Her honors have included the Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award, which she received from the Sony Music Foundation after being chosen by Seiji Ozawa and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi as the most promising cellist in 2005, and prizes at the Sapporo Junior Cello and 62nd Japan Music Competitions. A graduate of Tokyo’s Toho School and The Juilliard School, she has participated in the Nagano-Aspen, Aspen, Santa Fe and Marlboro music festivals. Record Geijutsu, Japan’s leading classical music magazine, named her second solo CD, Love of Beauty, Best Recording.

Yoobin Son joined the Philharmonic, after serving as principal flute of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. She has performed with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and as soloist with the New Haven Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Florida and Seoul Philharmonic orchestras. She has given recitals for Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago and Seoul’s Young Artist Series of the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation, and performed chamber music with the Marlboro Music and Music from Angel Fire festivals. Ms. Son was a member of ACJW, the performing ensemble of Carnegie Hall’s Academy, and teaching assistant at the Manhattan School of Music and Yale University. She won top honors at the Florida Orchestra Young Artist, National Flute Association Soloist and Koussevitzky International Winds competitions.

Robert Botti joined the New York Philharmonic in 1992, having been principal oboe of the New York City Opera Orchestra. Solo appearances have included the New York Symphonic Ensemble. He has performed in the Grand Teton, Bach Stony Brook and Music from Colorado festivals, and collaborated and recorded with Gunther Schuller and Wynton Marsalis with Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has recorded with the Philharmonic’s Principal Bassoon Judith LeClair, Sylvan Winds, Philharmonia Virtuosi, New York Kammermusiker, Amadeus Ensemble, and Harmonie Ensemble, and is featured on the premiere recording of Arnold Sturm’s Suite for Oboe and Piano. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Mr. Botti is on the faculties of New York University and Manhattan School of Music and has given master classes at Yale, Princeton, and Indiana universities.

Oboe and English horn player Keisuke Ikuma, principal oboist of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, appears regularly with the New York Philharmonic and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Principal oboe with the New World Symphony from 1991 to 1995, he appeared as soloist with that orchestra. Before his tenure in Miami, he served as principal oboe with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and in the summer of 1993 he was co-principal oboist of the Colorado Music Festival. He has also participated in the Grand Teton, Banff and Pacific music festivals. In 1990 Mr. Ikuma received his bachelor of music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he was a full-scholarship student of former Philharmonic Principal Oboe Joseph Robinson, and holds a law degree from the Keio University of Tokyo, Japan.

Clarinetist Dean LeBlanc enjoys a versatile performance career as an orchestral and chamber musician. He is a clarinetist with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and has also performed as a guest with The Philadelphia Orchestra, New York City Opera, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theatre Orchestra and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded for the Decca, Atlantic, Telarc, New World Records and EMI labels, as well as for numerous major motion picture sound tracks. Mr. LeBlanc can also be heard on the recent Grammy–winning recording of Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Kim Laskowski joined the Philharmonic in 2003 as Associate Principal Bassoon. She attended The Juilliard School, where she won the Walter and Elsie Naumburg Award for Orchestral Excellence and received a Fulbright grant. While attending the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Paris she toured Europe as a member of the Orchestre des Prix. Ms. Laskowski has appeared with ensembles including Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Symphony Orchestra and Eos Orchestra. In addition to her numerous television, radio, and film scores are two platinum records for CDs recorded with 10,000 Maniacs and several chamber-music CDs with Music Amici. Ms. Laskowski previously played second bassoon in the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and was principal bassoon of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.

Philharmonic bassoonist/contrabassoonist Arlen Fast previously served in the San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera, having earned his music degree at Wichita State University in Kansas. He toured with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Japan Philharmonic and has performed chamber music with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles, the Making Music series at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Music from Copland House, Sunriver Music Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival and Summerfest Chamber Music Festival. He has given numerous master classes and lectures, including at The Juilliard School and U.C.L.A., and was twice the featured guest artist at the Contrabassoon Festival in Park City, Utah. Mr. Fast invented a new system of register keys for the contrabassoon, extending its practical range, and performs on an instrument produced in collaboration with the Fox Bassoon Company.

Howard Wall, a native of Pittsburgh, joined the horn section of the New York Philharmonic in March 1994. Previously, he was a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra for nearly 20 years. He is also a former member of both the Phoenix Symphony and the Denver Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic in Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns in New York as well as in Europe and South America, and can be heard on the CD Take 9, featuring the New York Philharmonic horn section and the American Horn Quartet. Mr. Wall, who began playing the horn at age 10, earned his bachelor of arts degree in music performance at Carnegie Mellon University.

American pianist Steven Beck’s 2013–14 season include recordings of Elliott Carter’s late piano works for Bridge Records; performances with the Alabama Symphony and of Messiaen’s final work, Concert a Quatre, with the New York Youth Symphony; and his annual presentation of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations on Christmas Eve at Bargemusic. Mr. Beck has worked with Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Charles Wuorinen, John Zorn, Beat Furrer, George Perle and George Crumb, and performed with ensembles such as Speculum Musicae and the New York New Music Ensemble. He is a member of the Talea Ensemble, the Knights, and the piano duo Quattro Mani. This semester he is teaching at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

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